By Robert McKinney, Assistant Athletics Director, Communications

SALEM, Ore. -- The Willamette University women's tennis team hosted the Willamette Valley Four-Way Tournament on Saturday, Sept. 15 at the WU Tennis Courts and the courts at Bush's Pasture Park. Several doubles matches were stopped by rain during the afternoon, and the entire schedule for Sunday, Sept. 16 was canceled due to the threat of additional rain. Willamette, George Fox University, Linfield College and Pacific University competed in the event.

There were five flights in doubles and 10 flights in singles. Most flights featured four players or doubles teams. The original plans called for a round-robin schedule within each flight. In order to keep the tournament competitive, some flights had two players or two doubles teams from the same college or university. In singles, flight #8, flight #9 and flight #10 each included three players.

At #1 doubles, Robin Pashek (Fr., The Dalles, OR/The Dalles-Wahtonka HS) and Sarah Dean (Fr., Boise, ID/Timberline HS) of Willamette lost to Riley Clayeux and Haley Fujimori from Linfield, 8-5. Michelle Uyeda and Elsa Harris, also from Linfield, defeated Pashek and Dean, 8-1.

In the #3 doubles flight, Siena Ginsburg (Fr., Bend, OR/Summit HS) and Alexis Gjurasic (Jr., Olympia, WA/Capital HS) of WU fell to Reina Chu and Kelsey Bartlett of Linfield, 8-3. Ginsburg and Gjurasic were leading Sarah Sweet and Jesse Vezo of Linfield, 3-2, when their next match was ended due to the rain.

Sylvia Marr (Fr., Grants Pass, OR/Hidden Valley HS) and Alyssa Oberg (So., Roseville, CA/Oakmont HS) won their first match at #4 doubles against Megan Meatte and Taylor Smallwood from Pacific, 8-2. Later, Taylor Morris and Lily Elmer of George Fox downed Hannah Andres (Jr., Sammamish, WA/Skyline HS) and Rachel Kong (Jr., Hayward, CA/Castro Valley HS) of WU, 8-3. Also at #4 doubles, Morris and Elmer defeated Marr and Oberg, 8-5. Andres Kong (Jr., Hayward, CA/Castro Valley HS) had to default to Meatte and Smallwood due to an injury.

In #5 doubles, Alexis Schwartz (Fr., Ontario, OR/Ontario HS) of the Bearcats and Emily Brink of George Fox combined to take on Jessica Eligio and Rochelle Schoenthal of Pacific. Schwartz and Brink won, 8-5.

Pashek competed for Willamette at #1 singles. In her first match, she lost to Elsa Harris from Linfield, 6-1, 6-2. In the second round, Michelle Uyeda of the Wildcats downed Pashek, 6-0, 6-0.

At #2 singles, Dean split a pair of matches. First, Alysse Nakasato from Linfield grabbed a narrow win in the opening set on her way to a 6-4, 6-0 victory over Dean. Later, Dean outlasted Clayeux in a close first set in a 7-5, 6-0 triumph for the Bearcats. It was Linfield's only loss in the tournament.

During #4 singles, Vezo from Linfield needed a tie-breaker in the first set to defeat Ginsburg of Willamette, 7-6 (7-4). Vezo prevailed in the second set, 6-1. Ginsburg also lost to Michelle Ly of Linfield, 6-0, 6-2. For Willamette at #6 singles, Gjurasic and Oberg each played two matches. Reina Chu of the Wildcats moved past Gjurasic, 6-0, 6-0, and also downed Oberg without losing a game. Bartlett of Linfield moved past Oberg, 6-3, 6-1, and later defeated Gjurasic, 6-3, 6-0.

In a close match at #7 singles, Danielle Brown of George Fox edged Andres of WU in a super tie-breaker played instead of a third set, 1-6, 6-1, 10-5. Andres had to default her second singles match to Morris of George Fox due to injury. Marr registered two victories for the Bearcats at #8 singles. She defeated Alyssa Byde of GFU, 6-0, 6-2, in a late morning match. Early in the afternoon, Marr held off Meatte of Pacific, 6-4, 6-3.

At #9 singles, Kong of Willamette dropped a very close match to Elmer of George Fox. Elmer won in a super tie-breaker, 3-6, 6-4, 11-9. Kong defaulted due to injury in her second match, which was against Smallwood from Pacific. Schwartz split matches for the Bearcats at #10 singles. In the first match, Megan Wilks of the Bruins defeated Schwartz, 6-2, 6-0. In the second match, Schwartz moved past Eligio of Pacific, 6-1, 6-2.

The Bearcats will compete at the ITA Northwest Regional Championships from Friday, Sept. 28 through Sunday, Sept. 30 at Linfield College in McMinnville, Oregon.